Me, Myself & I

I often visit blogs which address issues from a perspective entirely different from my own. Not only do I read these different perspectives, but I leave comments.

Too often, each of us only likes to congregate with people who agree with us. This, of course, creates an inherent problem. If a particular world view is consistently featured and there are no dissenting voices or different perspectives offered, we each tend to come to believe that our narrowly-shared viewpoint is a reflection of universal reality and that anyone who has a brain MUST agree with us.

In this vein, I happened upon a conservative blog called The Abercrombie View. In the April 18th entry entitled "Me" Society, the author writes,

For Christians, we are called to do just the opposite. We are to put the best interests of our brother and sister, our friend and our neighbor, above our own best interest. We are called to build up the church as a whole by our actions and our attitudes. What would happen if the whole of society were to reorient toward the best interests of others, not to the exclusion of our own best interests, but at least putting the best interests of others above our own. Let me think…

Now I'm sure most Christians would say this passage offers an apt description of the Christian perspective. But coming from the Taoist tradition, I would say this is a BETTER description of Taoism than Christianity.

Christianity teaches separation, not community. (I also think a great deal of the blame for the "Me" society falls at the feet of Christianity.) Each Christian is urged to form an INDEPENDENT and PERSONAL relationship with the creator. Consequently, my relationship with God will be different from your relationship. This difference represents separation.

Christians are also urged to hold dominion over the earth. In order to hold dominion over anything, it must be separate FROM you.

In both of the above cited concepts, the main thrust is not on the commonality of each being but the distinctiveness of each.

In Taoism, we hold that ALL things are connected, that we form a community bond with every creation. In essence, I am an extension of everything else and everything else is an extension of me. When the world is viewed from this vantage point, then the concept of "me" takes on far less significance than it does under Christianity.